Mary Harris Girls Youth Soccer Day 2022

October 16, 2022 | Story and photos by Lisa Scagliotti

The annual get-together with the high school varsity and junior varsity players leading drills and games with players from pre-K through 8th grade happens at Mad River Park in Waitsfield.

Some groups run dribbling, shooting and passing drills.

Players are organized into groups by age with several of the high school players leading each exercise.

Preschoolers start off practicing working with the ball and their feet.

Harwood Varisty Coach Mike Vasseur hands out t-shirts.

Who wants to be goalie?

Middle school players scrimmage.

Is there time for a headstand? Of course.

Harwood sophomore player Izzy Fish makes a friend

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Each group gets candy in a running game of tag. Coach Mike Vasseur distributes treats to the high school players.

Their young charges give chase to catch up and get their share.

There are lots of squeals and giggles.

Varsity player Quinn Nelson is an easy mark for a small player.

Candy gets tossed to the older kids.

Liz Harris addresses the group.

The Harwood Girls Soccer varsity players wear their Mary Harris Day shirts.

Special t-shirts are made for participants each year. (front)

(back)

Items from the lost/found pile after the event include a sweatshirt handed out at the start that already had the name “Rowan” written inside.

Another lost/found item. Everything collected was placed in the cubby outside the shed in the parking lot at Mad River Park.

Young soccer players turned out in scores for the annual Mary Harris Girls Youth Soccer Day recently to honor a special player by remembering her love for the game and her example of kindness.

Approximately 200 girls from preschool through middle school converged at Mad River Park on Oct. 11. With them were the Harwood high school girls soccer players who led groups divided by age in soccer drills and games instead of having their regular after-school practices.

The annual tradition includes special commemorative t-shirts for all of the participants, some candy that becomes a game itself, and a visit with family members of Mary Harris, the event’s namesake. The Mad River Valley teenager was a junior at Harwood Union High School in October 2016 when she and four friends and classmates died in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 89.

Youngsters play ball-handling games led by the high school players at the annual Mary Harris Girls Youth Soccer Day at Mad River Park.

Pint-sized soccer players catch high school player Quinn Nelson to collect their candy at the end of the soccer event.

Since then, the girls high school soccer program’s annual training session with the youth players in the school district has been named in her honor. An excerpt of an essay Mary wrote in school on the theme of kindness is printed on the shirts made for the soccer day and the slogan “Love Like Mary” has become the mantra for the program.

Mary’s mom, artist Liz Harris, attends the event and makes small keepsakes to share with the participants such as small rocks painted with a heart or stickers featuring her heart paintings. This year, she handed out small tags for backpacks bearing a painted heart image. Before the session broke up, the group gathered for a photo and Harris thanked everyone he group for continuing the tradition.

“Mary would have loved this. She loved soccer,” she said. “It means a lot to us that you are team members and care for each other and are there for each other and are kind to each other.”

Mary Harris Day participants with Liz Harris (front center in white) and her daughter Hazel (front center in black).